Читать книгу Giving Thanks - M. J. Ryan - Страница 9

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted—a paved road or a

washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation,

you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling

that nurtures the soul.

—Rabbi Harold Kushner

One of the incredible truths about gratitude is that it is impossible to feel both

the positive emotion of thankfulness and a negative emotion such as anger or fear

at the same time. Gratitude births only positive feelings—love, compassion, joy,

and hope. As we focus on what we are thankful for, fear, anger, bitterness simply

melt away, seemingly without effort.

How can this be? The answer is that gratitude helps us track success and the

brain naturally works to track success. If you have ever watched a baby learn

something, you’ll know what I mean. Learning to walk, for example, she stands

and puts out one foot. Boom! Down she goes because her balance wasn’t right.

Instead of castigating herself for blowing it, getting angry, or blaming the floor or

her shoe, she just registers that it didn’t work and tries again.

As we get older, however, we get schooled in our mistakes, and learn to focus

on what’s lacking, missing, inadequate, and painful. That’s why gratitude is so

powerful. It helps us to return to our natural state of joyfulness where we notice

what’s right instead of what’s wrong. Gratitude reminds us to be like plants,

which turn toward, not away, from the light.

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